Katherine  Parker    MJC  102  Mid-­‐Term  Part  3    10-­‐28-­‐13                                                                                                                            Airplane  Crash   Two men are dead and four others were injured in a recent airplane crash outside of an airport restaurant recently. The Big Pig Shak located next to the airport was engulfed in flames from an airplane that apparently turned away from the runway. Joseph E. Blackwell, 40, and Tommy B Ludner, 49, of Hattiesburg lost their lives due to this fire. The aircraft did not strike anyone, but four others were injured from smoke inhalation while waiting inside for their lunch. Hattiesburg Police Department Police Chief, Dennis Gullet, and the National Transportation Safety Board are working together in an investigation to find the cause of the malfunction of the aircraft, and although this has not been confirmed, the loss of power is believed to be from mechanical problems, and not from any fault of the pilot. Amazingly, the pilot, Roscoe Magillicutty of Denton Alabama, was uninjured but was taken to the hospital anyway. 50-year-old Harley L. Stark was supposed to be eating lunch with his friend, Tommy Ludner, when he heard the explosion. He thought that a car might have struck the restaurant. A plane was certainly not what he expected. It was Harley’s 50th birthday. He and Tommy were set to celebrate their mutual birthday ages together, but instead of celebrating, Harley ended up coughing from the smoke that quickly filled the room, and crawling on the floor in his French Onion Soup covered clothes. He thankfully escaped just in time to his next glimpse of sunlight. What he didn’t see was his friend, Tommy. “When someone mentioned the need to look for him, I recalled last seeing him behind the counter. Sadly, that was the last memory I would have of my friend. The building collapsed before I could do anything. I just feel so bad. Happy Birthday to me, right? Yea, right,” said Harley. Simon Flyover, Airport Manager said, “The tower received a ‘Mayday’ call from the pilot, and now we’re awaiting the NTSB to get here to tell us what happened. We haven’t had a crash since 1964, so we’ve been lucky. I just hate we’ve lost Tommy Ludner and his restaurant.” “It appears that the plane hit the breaker box in the building, which was just the right place.” Said Hattiesburg Fire Chief, Cyrus “Smokey Burns.” He said was unsure of the current condition of the electrical wiring, but said that two of the fire fighters had to be treated additionally because of smoke inhalation. Sally Smith was waiting to board a plane when the accident took place. She said that she could not see clearly because of the distance, but did notice that the pilot appeared to have taken a wrong turn causing him to crash into the building. More information will be released as the investigation continues.